Techstars Seattle’s 2011 class included ten startups, three of which later became unicorns: Remitly, Outreach and Zipline. That works out to a 30% unicorn rate in Marcelo Calbucci’s 2021 account. He called the cohort “arguably” the most successful accelerator class ever—but the available comparisons do not establish a definitive all-time ranking.
Which Techstars Seattle cohort produced three unicorns?
It was the 2011 class, Techstars Seattle’s second cohort. Participant Marcelo Calbucci reported that ten startups took part and identified three that later reached unicorn status: Remitly, Outreach and Zipline. Techstars’ public registry also lists all three under 2011. Calbucci’s September 2021 retrospective recounts the class and its companies; the Techstars portfolio provides the program’s public company listings.
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Each company entered the program with a different idea or business direction from the one for which it later became known. Their stories illustrate how the cohort’s outcomes were not simply a matter of selecting three already-proven businesses.
How did the three companies get started?
Remitly: solving the cash pickup problem
Remitly entered the accelerator as Beamit Mobile, a mobile-to-mobile money transfer service aimed at people sending money from the United States to the Philippines. Calbucci’s account emphasizes a practical obstacle: how recipients would actually receive cash. He credits the founders’ identification of that need—and their execution on it—as central to the service’s success. That is his retrospective interpretation, not an independently measured causal finding.
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Outreach: from staffing to sales automation
Manny Medina and Andrew Kinzer’s early team considered a flower-delivery business. They then joined Gordon Hempton and Wes Hather to form GroupTalent, a service for staffing teams. When that approach did not work, the company pivoted to sales automation and became Outreach, according to Calbucci.
Zipline: from an iPhone-controlled robot to medical delivery
Zipline began in the cohort as Romotive. Its first product was a hand-size robot controlled by an iPhone, but the company struggled to find a market. Near the end of the program, Keller Rinaudo joined and redirected the business toward delivering healthcare supplies by drone in remote locations. Calbucci presents the change in direction as a pivotal part of the company’s development.
Does three unicorns make this the most successful accelerator cohort ever?
It makes a strong case by one clear measure: three of ten companies, or 30%, later became unicorns, using the cohort size and outcomes reported by Calbucci in 2021. But “most successful ever” is a broader claim than that rate can prove. A definitive comparison would need consistent cohort definitions, outcome dates, valuation criteria and coverage across accelerators and years.
Calbucci compared Seattle 2011 with other accelerator classes in his 2021 article. The figures below are his reported comparison, not a current independently audited ranking.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Techstars Seattle 2011 | 10 | 3 | 30% |
| YC Winter 2016 | 125 | 10 | 8% |
| Accelerator cohort comparison cited by Calbucci for the same year | 106 graduates | 4 | Not stated |
Calbucci described YC Winter 2016 as Y Combinator’s best cohort and reported ten unicorns among 125 startups. He also mentioned four unicorns among 106 graduates in the same year. Those counts do not settle an all-time comparison: they are not a comprehensive, independently verified census, and the article does not establish matching rules for every accelerator and cohort.
What may have contributed to the class’s outcomes?
Calbucci was a participant, and his company was part of the class. He explicitly acknowledged his bias, so his explanation is best understood as a participant’s interpretation rather than proof of what caused the results.
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- Founder commitment: Chris DeVore, the program’s managing director at the time, recalled that the class came together as the world was emerging from a dark period, and that the founders willing to start companies were deeply committed.
- Adaptability and support: Techstars co-founder and chairman David Cohen said that two of the three unicorns were not doing the same thing when selected. His point was that the people and support mattered as companies found their direction.
- Willingness to challenge the initial idea: Calbucci recalled Andy Sack telling founders that some were chosen “not because of your idea, but despite your idea.” The company pivots recounted for Outreach and Zipline show why that distinction matters.
- Founder maturity and cooperation: Calbucci said he thought the cohort skewed older and attributed some of its performance to founder maturity and cooperation, while noting he had no hard data for the age observation.
- Selection effects: Calbucci also recognized that selection bias could shape the apparent success rate. A three-in-ten outcome describes this cohort retrospectively; it does not show that the accelerator alone produced those outcomes.
There was also a notable representation gap: Calbucci wrote that only two of the ten companies had a woman. That historical detail is relevant to any full account of the class, even though the retrospective does not provide more detail about those companies’ roles or outcomes.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does the cohort fit into Techstars Seattle’s history?
Techstars Seattle later discontinued its Seattle program. A February 2024 GeekWire report said Seattle accelerator programs had collectively raised more than $2.8 billion in private capital and reproduced a program memo stating that 236 companies had graduated from Seattle-based programs since the first class in 2010. Those are Seattle program-wide figures, not results attributable to the 2011 cohort alone.
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Techstars’ portfolio page displays portfolio-wide totals, including 29 unicorns, alongside combined market capitalization, funding and founder figures. Those figures describe the broader portfolio, not this class. The page says public valuations are updated daily from the Yahoo Finance API and private valuations use the last funding round found on PitchBook, so its totals and valuations can change over time.
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